Organize Your Kids!

Inspire your kids to hang up wet towels, make their beds and put away their toys—all without nagging!

Make the wardrobe reachable.

Install a clothes bar in the closet, one that is low enough for your child to reach the hangers. As your child gets taller, raise the bar accordingly, and as a New Year's ritual, record with a marker each new level and year on the wall. It's fun for children to look back and see how their grasp grew!

Simplify bed making.

The habit of daily bed making can be instilled early, but it's unreasonable to expect a young child to remake a complicated bed every morning. Comforters are a great solution—they are so easy to toss on. And keep pillows to a minimum. Also, create a laundry day and request that all family members deposit their dirty sheets in one place.

Install swingable towel bars.

Everybody needs his or her own towel and towel bar. Invest in towel holders that hide behind the bathroom door, with hinges at different levels. Adults can use the top hinges; children can reach the lower ones.

Organize the accolades.

Create a special shelf mounted on the wall opposite your child's bed to display his or her trophies, honors, special art projects or great test scores. That way, your child can fall asleep each night after a good look at all his or her positive accomplishments. It can inspire sweet dreams!

Compartmentalize large toy boxes.

Small toys and toy pieces often get lost in those big cabinets, so organize them by using stackableZiploc® Brand Containers in the same size. You can easily label them with masking tape and a marker. And the Snap 'n Seal Lids are simple for children to pop on and off. Also, I keep a toy “lost and found” Ziploc® Brand Easy Zipper Storage Bag in a kitchen drawer for those pieces that appear in the strangest places.

Give rubber ducky a home.

Store your children's bath toys in a caddy mounted with suction cups on the tub wall. Make sure you place it low enough so your child can reach it. And encourage your child to place the toys back in the caddy right after his or her bath. If you don't have the space for this, use a few gallon-size Ziploc® Brand Easy Zipper Storage Bags instead.

-Source: Right At Home